China frees jailed journalist 3 years early

BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) The jailed founder of one of China's most progressive newspapers has been freed after serving half of a six-year sentence on a corruption charge that other journalists say was trumped up, a human rights watchdog said today.

Li Minying, 61, founder and former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolis, was released from a prison in the booming southern province of Guangdong yesterday after his sentence was cut due to old age and poor health, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders said on its Web site, www.crd-net.org.

His sentence had earlier been commuted to six from 11 years due to good behaviour.

Li could not be reached for comment.

The rare display of leniency came about two months after human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was given a suspended sentence for subversion.

Southern Metropolis, part of a family of progressive newspapers based in Guangdong, was first with news in 2003 of the death of a man in police custody, a case that sparked popular outrage and led to the scrapping of rules empowering police to detain migrant workers.

It was also at the forefront in reporting on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which ultimately led to the sacking of the Beijing mayor and the health minister in 2003.

The corruption case has drawn heavy fire from critics who say the sentences were fabricated as a warning to the media not to be too aggressive in investigative reporting.

In June 2005, more than 2,300 Chinese journalists signed a letter demanding a provincial court release Li and a colleague Yu Huafeng, who the signatories insisted were innocent.

Cheng Yizhong, also a former editor of the Southern Metropolis, was held for five months without ever being charged and freed in August 2004.

The Chinese Communist Party keeps a watchful eye on the media and has been accused of using criminal charges to keep in check newspapers that push the editorial envelope.

China was the world's top jailer of journalists in 2006 for the eighth year in a row with a total of 31 behind bars, according to the New York-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists.

REUTERS DKA RN1703